Moving testimony opens 'dumpster baby' trial
By Kat Russell, Reporter
The Paducah Sun
November 29, 2016
http://www.paducahsun.com/news/local/moving-testimony-opens-dumpster-baby-trial/article_286afd54-5b13-11e7-9b3d-10604b9f0f42.html
"I was scared. I won't lie, I was scared," Daniel Hodge testified Monday in McCracken Circuit Court, describing the moment last year when he found a newborn infant in a dumpster behind his business.
Hodge, owner of Ligon Repair Service on Berger Road, was the first witness called by the commonwealth in the trial against two teens, who are accused of discarding the child.
The baby was found July 30, 2015, in a dumpster near Fernwood Apartments, at Berger and Lone Oak roads, after Hodge reported seeing a young black male discard something and leave the area.
The teens, Casside Cherry, 16, and Trevon Elmore, 18 -- who were later determined to be the infant's parents -- face charges of attempted murder, first-degree criminal abuse and tampering with physical evidence.
During his testimony, Hodge said he was at his shop, working with a client, when he heard the lid to the dumpster slam.
"I looked through the windows and saw a male subject standing behind the dumpster," he said.
By the time he got outside, Hodge said the male -- later identified as Elmore -- was walking away.
"Once he had walked away, I was concerned with what was going on with the dumpster," Hodge said, adding the back of his shop is relatively secluded and "there has been activity" there in the past.
As he approached the dumpster, Hodge said he heard noises coming from it.
"At first I thought it was some toys -- like a mechanical toy," he said. When he opened the lid, however, he said he realized he was hearing the intermittent cries of "what sounded like a child."
Hodge said he told his client to call 911. He then grabbed a ladder and climbed into the dumpster.
There he found a black garbage bag, which he opened. Inside, he said he found, "bedding material, and then once I lifted the covers up, I found a baby."
"It was crying," he said, "It was a fairly newborn baby, and it still had its placenta attached."
After the initial shock wore off, Hodge said he called his wife, Tracy Hodge, and told her she needed to come to the shop.
Tracy Hodge also testified Monday.
The Hodges are both medically trained. Daniel Hodge is a trained EMT, and Tracy Hodge is a paramedic with Baptist Health Paducah.
When she arrived, Tracy Hodge said the police were already on scene, but the ambulance was not yet there.
Tracy Hodge said she made her way to the dumpster "as quickly as I could," and climbed inside. After getting the initial report from her husband, Tracy Hodge said she then did an assessment of the baby, checking its breathing, color and alertness.
"The baby was awake, its eyes were moving, its mouth was open, it was making crying sounds, so it had a clear airway," she said. "Its color looked very good for a newborn, so circulation was good. So my immediate thought was it's doing good."
One concerning thing she noticed was the placenta and umbilical cord were still attached to the infant. Once the ambulance arrived and EMS personnel provided an O.B. kit -- a kit for delivering a baby -- Tracy Hodge said she clamped and cut the cord.
The baby was taken to a local hospital. The child was later released into state custody.
During her closing statement, defense attorney Angela Troutman, who is representing Elmore, said her client acted out fear and not out of intent to harm or kill the child.
"Fear is an emotion that when it takes hold of person, it can drive them to do things they don't think through," she said. "It drives them to do things they themselves never thought they were capable of."
Troutman said at the time of the incident, Elmore was "a boy who was confronted with a very scary situation," and he was not equipped to handle the situation responsibly.
Cherry's attorney, Richard Null, in his opening statement, emphasized the lack of evidence indicating his client was involved with discarding the baby. He also said his client suffered from a medical condition at the time of the birth which caused her to have multiple seizures. The seizures, he said, diminished her ability to think clearly and impaired her memories of that day.
The trial is scheduled to resume at 8:30 a.m. today.
Hodge, owner of Ligon Repair Service on Berger Road, was the first witness called by the commonwealth in the trial against two teens, who are accused of discarding the child.
The baby was found July 30, 2015, in a dumpster near Fernwood Apartments, at Berger and Lone Oak roads, after Hodge reported seeing a young black male discard something and leave the area.
The teens, Casside Cherry, 16, and Trevon Elmore, 18 -- who were later determined to be the infant's parents -- face charges of attempted murder, first-degree criminal abuse and tampering with physical evidence.
During his testimony, Hodge said he was at his shop, working with a client, when he heard the lid to the dumpster slam.
"I looked through the windows and saw a male subject standing behind the dumpster," he said.
By the time he got outside, Hodge said the male -- later identified as Elmore -- was walking away.
"Once he had walked away, I was concerned with what was going on with the dumpster," Hodge said, adding the back of his shop is relatively secluded and "there has been activity" there in the past.
As he approached the dumpster, Hodge said he heard noises coming from it.
"At first I thought it was some toys -- like a mechanical toy," he said. When he opened the lid, however, he said he realized he was hearing the intermittent cries of "what sounded like a child."
Hodge said he told his client to call 911. He then grabbed a ladder and climbed into the dumpster.
There he found a black garbage bag, which he opened. Inside, he said he found, "bedding material, and then once I lifted the covers up, I found a baby."
"It was crying," he said, "It was a fairly newborn baby, and it still had its placenta attached."
After the initial shock wore off, Hodge said he called his wife, Tracy Hodge, and told her she needed to come to the shop.
Tracy Hodge also testified Monday.
The Hodges are both medically trained. Daniel Hodge is a trained EMT, and Tracy Hodge is a paramedic with Baptist Health Paducah.
When she arrived, Tracy Hodge said the police were already on scene, but the ambulance was not yet there.
Tracy Hodge said she made her way to the dumpster "as quickly as I could," and climbed inside. After getting the initial report from her husband, Tracy Hodge said she then did an assessment of the baby, checking its breathing, color and alertness.
"The baby was awake, its eyes were moving, its mouth was open, it was making crying sounds, so it had a clear airway," she said. "Its color looked very good for a newborn, so circulation was good. So my immediate thought was it's doing good."
One concerning thing she noticed was the placenta and umbilical cord were still attached to the infant. Once the ambulance arrived and EMS personnel provided an O.B. kit -- a kit for delivering a baby -- Tracy Hodge said she clamped and cut the cord.
The baby was taken to a local hospital. The child was later released into state custody.
During her closing statement, defense attorney Angela Troutman, who is representing Elmore, said her client acted out fear and not out of intent to harm or kill the child.
"Fear is an emotion that when it takes hold of person, it can drive them to do things they don't think through," she said. "It drives them to do things they themselves never thought they were capable of."
Troutman said at the time of the incident, Elmore was "a boy who was confronted with a very scary situation," and he was not equipped to handle the situation responsibly.
Cherry's attorney, Richard Null, in his opening statement, emphasized the lack of evidence indicating his client was involved with discarding the baby. He also said his client suffered from a medical condition at the time of the birth which caused her to have multiple seizures. The seizures, he said, diminished her ability to think clearly and impaired her memories of that day.
The trial is scheduled to resume at 8:30 a.m. today.
